NORTH  AMERICAN  STONE  IMPLEMENTS. 


15Y 


RA.TJ. 


REPRINTED  FROM  THE  REPORT  OF  THE  SMITHSONIAN 
INSTITUTION  FOR  1872. 


WASHINGTON: 

GOVERNMENT     PRINTING     OFFICE. 
1873. 


NORTH  AMERICAN  STONE  IMPLEMENTS, 


CEC^RLP^S   RA.TJ.  \9*<*-Wl 


REPRINTED  FROM  THE  REPORT  OF  THE  SMITHSONIAN 
INSTITUTION  FOR  1872. 


WASHINGTON: 

GOVERNMENT  PRINTING  OFFICE. 
1873. 


NORTH  AMERICAN  STONE  IMPLEMENTS. 


BANCROFT  LIBRARY 
BY  CHARLES  EAU. 


The  division  of  the  European  stone  age  into  a  period  of  chipped  stone, 
find  a  succeeding  one  of  ground  or  polished  stone,  or,  into  the  palaeo 
lithic  and  neolithic  periods,  seems  to  be  fully  borne  out  by  facts,  and  is 
likely  to  remain  an  uncontroverted  basis  for  future  investigation  in 
Europe.  In  North  America  chipped  as  well  as  ground  implements  are 
abundant  j  yet  they  occur  promiscuously,  and  thus  far  cannot  be  re 
ferred  respectively  to  certain  epochs  in  the  development  of  the  abo 
rigines  of  the  country.  Archaeological  investigation  in  North  America, 
however,  is  but  of  recent  date,  and  a  careful  examination  of  our  caves 
and  drift-beds  possibly  may  lead  to  results  similar  to  those  obtained  in 
Europe.  When  in  the  latter  part  of  the  world  man  lived  contempo 
raneously  with  the  now  extinct  large  pachydermatous  and  carnivorous 
animals,  he  used  ungrouud  flint  tools  of  rude  workmanship,  which  were 
superseded  in  the  later  stages  of  the  European  stone  age,  comprising 
the  neolithic  period,  by  more  finished  articles  of  flint  and  other  stone, 
many  of  which  were  brought  into  final  shape  by  the  processes  of  grind 
ing  and  polishing.  In  North  America  stone  implements  likewise  have 
been  found  associated  with  the  osseous  remains  of  extinct  animals ;  yet 
these  implements,  it  appears,  differed  in  no  wise  from  those  in  use  among 
the  aborigines  at  the  period  of  their  first  intercourse  with  the  whites. 

In  the  year  1839,  the  late  Dr.  Albert  C.  Koch  discovered  in  the  bot 
tom  of  the  Bourbeuse  Eiver,  in  Gasconade  County.  Missouri,  the  re 
mains  of  a  Mastodon  yicjanteus  under  very  peculiar  circumstances.  The 
greater  portion  of  the  bones  appeared,  more  or  less  burned,  and  there 
was  sufficient  evidence  that  the  fire  had  been  kindled  by  human  agency, 
and  with  the  design  of  killing  the  huge  creature,  which  had  been  found 
mired  in  the  mud,  and  in  an  entirely  helpless  condition.  The  animal's 
fore  and  hind  legs,  untouched  by  the  fire,  were  in  a  perpendicular  posi 
tion,  with  the  toes  attached  to  the  feet,  showing  that  the  ground  in 
which  the  animal  had  sunk,  now  a  grayish-colored  clay,  was  in  a  plastic 
condition  when  the  occurrence  took  place.  Those  portions  of  the  skele 
ton,  however,  which  had  been  exposed  above  the  surface  of  the  clay, 
were  partially  consumed  by  the  fire,  and  a  layer  of  wood-ashes  and 
charred  bones,  varying  in  thickness  from  two  to  six  inches,  indicated 
that  the  burning  had  been  continued  for  some  length  of  time.  The  fire 
appeared  to  have  been  most  destructive  around  the  head  of  the  animal. 
Mingled  with  the  ashes  and  bones  was  a  large  number  of  broken  pieces 


NORTH    AMERICAN    STONE    IMPLEMENTS. 


of  rock,  which  evidently  had  been  carried  to  the  spot  from  the  bank  of 
the  Bourbeuse  Eiver  to  be  hurled  at  the  animal.  But  the  burning  and 
hurling  of  stones,  it  seems,  did  not  satisfy  the  assailants  of  the  masto 
don  ;  for  Dr.  Koch  found  among  the  ashes,  bones,  and  rocks  several 
stone  arroiv-heads,  a  spear-head,  and  some  stone  axes,  which  were  taken 
out  in  the  presence  of  a  number  of  witnesses,  consisting  of  the  people  of 
the  neighborhood,  who  had  been  attracted  by  the  novelty  of  the  exca 
vation.  The  layer  of  ashes  and  bones  was  covered  by  strata  of  alluvial 
deposits,  consisting  of  clay,  sand,  and  soil,  from  eight  to  nine  feet  thick, 
which  form  the  bottom  of  the  Bourbeuse  Eiver  in  general. 

About  one  year  after  this  excavation,  Dr.  Koch  found  at  another 
place,  in  Benton  County,  Missouri,  in  the  bottom  of  the  Pomme  de  Terre 
Eiver,  about  ten  miles  above  its  juuctiou  with  the  Osage,  several  stone 
arrow-heads  mingled  with  the  bones  of  a  nearly  entire  skeleton  of  the 
Missourium.  The  two  arrow-heads  found  with  the  bones  u  were  in  such 
a  position  as  to  furnish  evidence  still  more  conclusive,  perhaps,  than  in 
the  other  case,  of  their  being  of  equal,  if  not  older  date,  than  the  bones 
themselves ;  for,  besides  that  they  were  found  in  a  layer  of  vegetable 
mold  which  was  covered  by  twenty  feet  in  thickness  of  alternate  layers 
of  sand,  clay,  and  gravel,  one  of  the  arrow-heads  lay  underneath  the 
thigh-bone  of  the  skeleton,  the  bone  actually  resting  in  contact  upon  it, 
so  that  it  could  not  have  been  brought  thither  after  the  deposit  of  the 
bone  5  a  fact  which  I  was  careful  thoroughly  to  investigate."* 

Fig.  l.  It  affords  me  particular  satisfaction  to 

present  in  Fig.  1  a  full-size  drawing  oft  the 
last-named  arrow-head,  which  is  still  iu  the 
possession  of  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Koch,  of  Saint 
Louis,  the  widow  of  the  discoverer.  The 
drawing  was  made  after  a  photograph,  for 
which  I  am  indebted  to  Mrs.  Koch.  It  will 
be  noticed  that  the  point,  one  of  the  barbs, 
and  a  corner  of  the  stem  of  this  arrow-head — 
if  it  really  was  an  arrow-head,  and  not  the 
armature  of  a  javelin  or  spear — are  broken 
off  5  but  there  remains  enough  of  it  to  make 
out  its  original  shape,  which  is  exactly  that 
of  similar  weapons  used  by  the  aborigines 
in  historical  times.  The  specimen  in  ques 
tion,  which,  as  I  presume,  was  found  by  Dr. 
Koch  in  its  present  mutilated  shape,  con 
sists  of  a  light-brown,  somewhat  mottled  flint,  t 

*Koch,  in  Transactions  of  the  Academy  of  Science  of  Saint  Louis,  vol.  i,(1860,)  p.  61,  &c. 

1 1  ain  well  aware  that  the  reality  of  Dr.  Koch's  discovery  has  been  doubted  by  some, 
although  it  is  difficult  to  perceive  why  he  should  have  made  those  statements,  if  not 
true,  at  a  time  when  the  antiquity  of  man  was  not  yet  discussed,  either  in  Europe  or 
here,  and  he,  therefore,  could  expect  nothing  but  contradiction,  public  opinion  being 


NORTH    AMERICAN    STONE    IMPLEMENTS.  3 

In  referring  to  these  discoveries  of  Dr.  Koch,  and  some  other  indica 
tions  of  the  high  antiquity  of  man  in  America,  Sir  John  Lubbock  con 
cludes  that  "  there  does  not  as  yet  appear  to  be  any  satisfactory  proof 
that  man  co-existed  in  America  with  the  Mammoth  and  Mastodon."* 
Yet,  it  may  be  expected,  almost  with  certainty,  that  the  results  of  fu 
ture  investigations  in  North  America  will  fully  corroborate  Dr.  Koch's 
discoveries,  and  vindicate  the  truthfulness  of  his  statements.  Indeed, 
some  facts  have  come  to  light  during  the  late  geological  survey  of  Illinois, 
which  confirm,  in  a  general  way,*the  conclusions  arrived  at  by  the 
above-named  explorer.  According  to  this  survey,  the  blue  clays  at  the 
base  of  the  drift  contain  fragments  of  wood  and  trunks  of  trees,  but 
no  fossil  remains  of  animals  ;  but  the  brown  clays  above,  underlying 
the  Loess,  contain  remains  of  the  Mammoth,  the  Mastodon,  and  the  Pec 
cary  ;  and  bones  of  the  Mastodon  were  found  in  a  bed  of  "local  drift," 
near  Alton,  underlying  the  Loess  in  situ  above,  and  also  in  the  same  hori 
zon,  stone  axes  and  flint  spear-heads,  indicating  the  co-existence  of  the 
human  race  with  the  extinct  mammalia  of  the  Quaternary  period.! 

It  must  not  be  overlooked  that  both  Dr.  Koch  and  the  Illinois  survey 
mention  flint  arrow  and  spear-heads  as  well  as  stone  axes  as  being  asso 
ciated,  directly  or  indirectly,  with  the  remains  of  extinct  animals. 
These  stone  axes  undoubtedly  were  ground  implements  ;  for,  had  they 
differed  in  any  way  from  the  ordinary  Indian  manufactures  of  the  same 
class,  the  fact  certainly  would  have  been  noticed  by  the  observers. 
Thus  far,  then,  we  are  not  entitled  to  speak  of  a  North  American  pal 
aeolithic  and  neolithic  period.  In  the  new  world,  therefore,  the  human 
contemporary  of  the  Mastodon  and  the  Mammoth,  it  would  seem,  was 
more  advanced  in  the  manufacture  of  stone  weapons  than  his  savage 
brother  of  the  European  drift  period,  a  circumstance  which  favors  the 
view  that  the  extinct  large  mammalia  ceased  to  exist  at  a  later  epoch 
in  America  than  in  Europe.  The  remarks  of  Lieu  ten  ant- Colon  el  C.  H. 
Smith  on  this  point  are  of  interest.  "  Over  a  considerable  part  of  the 
eastern  side  of  the  great  (American)  mountain  ridge,"  he  says,  li  more 
particularly  where  ancient  lakes  have  tieen  converted  into  morasses,  or 
have  been  filled  by  alluvials,  organic  remains  of  above  thirty  species  of 
mammals,  of  the  same  orders  and  genera,  in  some  cases  of  the  same 
species,  (as  in  Europe,)  have  been  discovered,  demonstrating  their  ex- 

totally  unprepared  for  such  revelations.  Not  being  a  scientific  palaeontologist,  be  cer 
tainly  made  some  mistakes  in  putting  together  the  bones  of  the  animals  exhumed  by 
him  ;  but  these  failings,  in  my  opinion,  have  no  bearing  on  his  observations  relative  to 
the  co-existence  of  man  with  extinct  animals  in  North  America.  Only  a  short  time 
ago  some  remarks  tending  to  depreciate  Dr.  Koch's  account  were  made  by  Dr.  Schmidt, 
in  an  article  on  the  antiquity  of  man  in  America,  published  in  vol.  v,  of  the  Archivfur 
Anthropologie.  I  may  state  here  that  I  was  personally  acquainted  with  Dr.  Koch,  whom 
I  saw  repeatedly  at  the  meetings  of  the  Academy  of  Science  of  Saint  Louis. 

*  Prehistoric  Times,  1st  ed.,  p.  236. 

tGeplogical  Survey  of  Illinois,  by  A.  H.  Worthen,  vol.  i,  (1866,)  p.  38;  quoted  in 
Transactions  of  the  Academy  of  Science  of  Saint  Louis,  vol.  ii,  (1868,)  p.  567, 


4  NORTH    AMERICAN    STONE    IMPLEMENTS. 

istence  iii  a  contemporary  era  with  those  of  the  old  continent,  and  under 
similar  circumstances.  But  their  period  of  duration  in  the  new  world 
may  have  been  prolonged  to  dates  of  a  subsequent  time,  since  the  Pachy 
derms  of  the  United  States,  as  well  as  those  of  the  Pampas  of  Brazil, 
are  much  more  perfect ;  and,  in  many  cases,  possess  characters  ascribed 
to  bones  in  a  recent  state.  Alligators  and  crocodiles,  moreover,  con 
tinue  to  exist  in  latitudes  where  they  endure  a  winter  state  of  torpidity 
beneath  ice,  as  an  evidence  that  the  great  Saurians  in  that  region  have 
not  yet  entirely  worked  out  their  mission ;  whereas,  on  the  old  conti 
nent  they  had  ceased  to  exist  in  high  latitudes  long  before  the  extinc 
tion  of  the  great  Ungulata.7'* 

Flint  implements  of  the  European  u  drift  type,"  however,  are  by  no 
means  scarce  in  North  America,  although  they  cannot  (thus  far)  be 
referred  to  any  particular  period,  but  must  be  classed  with  the  other 
chipped  And  ground  implements  in  use  among  the  North  American  abo 
rigines  during  historical  times. 

In  the  first  place  I  will  mention  certain  leaf-shaped  flint  implements 
which  have  been  found  in  mounds  and  on  the  surface,  as  well  as  in  de 
posits  below  it.  They  are  comparatively  thin,  of  regular  outline,  and 
exhibit  well-chipped  edges  all  around  the  circumferences.  On  the  whole, 
they  are  among  the  best  North  American  flint  articles  which  have 
fallen  under  my  notice.  The  specimens  .found  by  Messrs.  Squier  and 
Davis  in  a  mound  of  the  inclosure  called  Mound  City,  on  the  Scioto 
Eiver,  some  miles  north  of  Ohillicothe,  Ohio,  belong  to  this  class.  Most 
of  them  were  broken,  but  a  few  were  found  entire,  one  of  which  is  repre 
sented  in  half  size  by  Fig.  100  on  page  211  of  the  "Ancient  Monuments 
of  the  Mississippi  Valley."  This  specimen  measures  four  inches  in 
length  and  about  three  inches  across  the  broad  rounded  end.  I  have  a 
still  larger  one,  consisting  of  a  reddish  mottled  flint,  which  was  found 
on  the  surface  in  Jefferson  County,  Missouri.  The  annexed  full-size 
drawing,  Fig.  2,  shows  its  outline.  The  edge  on  the  right  side  is  a  little 
damaged  by  subsequent  fractures,  but  for  the  sake  of  greater  distinct 
ness  I  have  represented  it  as  perfect.  The  finest  leaf-shaped  imple 
ments  which  I  have  had  occasion  to  examine,  are  in  the  possession  of 
Mr.  M.  Cowing,  of  Seneca  Falls,  New  York.  The  owner  told  me  he  had 
more  than  a  hundred  of  them,  which  were  all  derived  from  a  locality  in 
the  State  of  New  York,  where  they  were  accidentally  discovered,  form 
ing  a  deposit  under  the  surface.  Mr.  Cowing,  who  is  constantly  engaged 
in  collecting  and  buying  up  Indian  relics,  refused  to  give  me  any  in 
formation  concerning  the  place  and  precise  character  of  the  deposit, 
basing  his  refusal  on  the  ground  that  a  few  of  these  implements  were 
still  in  the  hands  of  individuals  in  the  neighborhood,  and  that  he  would 
reveal  nothing  in  relation  to  the  deposit  until  he  had  obtained  every 
specimen  originally  belonging  to  it.  I  am,  therefore,  unable  to  give  any 

*  The  Natural  History  of  the  Human  Species,  London,  1852,  p.  89.  The  comparative 
freshness  of  the  bones  of  extinct  North  American  animals  was  noticed  by  Cuvier. 


NORTH    AMERICAN    STONE    IMPLEMENTS. 


particulars,  and  must  confine  myself  to  the  statement  that  the  speci 
mens  shown  to  me  present  in  general  the  outline  of  the  original  of  Fig.  2, 
though  they  are  a  little  smaller ;  and  that  they  are  thin,  sharp-edged, 
and  exquisitely  wrought,  and  consist  of  a  beautiful,  variously-colored 
flint,  which  bears  some  resemblance  to  chalcedony. 

Concerning  the  use  or  Fi,;  2 

uses  of  North  American 
leaf- shaped  articles,  I  am 
hardly  prepared  to  give  a 
definite  opinion,  though 
I  think  it  probable  that 
they  served  for  purposes 
of  cutting.  They  were 
certainly  not  intended  for 
spear-heads,  their  shape 
being  ill-adapted  for  that 
end  ;  nor  do  I  think  that 
they  were  used  as  scrap 
ers,  as  other  more  massive 
implements  of  a  kindred 
character  probably  were, 
of  which  1  shall  speak 
hereafter. 

The  aborigines  were  in 
the  habit  of  burying  arti 
cles  of  flint  in  the  ground, 
and  such  deposits,  some-  \j 
times  quite  large,  have 
been  discovered  in  various 
parts  of  the  United  States. 
These' deposits  consist  of 
articles  representing  va 
rious  types,  among  which 
I  will  mention  the  leaf- 
shaped  implements  in  the 
possession  of  Mr.  Cowing ;  the  agricultural  tools  found  at  East  Saint 
Louis,  Illinois,  of  which  I  have  given  an  account  in  the  Smithsonian 
report  for  18G8  ;  and  the  rude  flint  articles  of  an  elongated  oval  shape, 
which  were  found  about  18GO  on  the  bank  of  the  Mississippi,  between 
Carondelet  and  Saint  Louis,  Missouri,  and  doubtless  belonged  to  a  de 
posit.  I  have  described  them  in  the  above-named  Smithsonian  report, 
(p.  405,)  and  have  also  given  there  a  drawing  of  one  of  the  specimens 
in  my  possession.  This  drawing  has  been  reproduced  by  Mr.  E.  T. 
Stevens,  on  page  441  of  his  valuable  work  entitled  "Flint  Chips,"  (Lon 
don,  1870,)  with  remarks  tending  to  show  that  the  specimen  does  not 
represent  an  unfinished  implement,  as  I  am  inclined  to  believe,  but  a 


6  NORTH    AMERICAN    STONE    IMPLEMENTS. 

complete  one.  I  must  admit  that  my  drawing  is  not  a  very  good  one. 
It  gives  the  object  a  more  definite  character  than  it  really  possesses,  the 
chipping  appearing  in  the  representation  far  less  superficial  than  it  is 
in  the  original,  which,  indeed,  has  such  a  shape  that  it  could  easily  be 
reduced  to  a  smaller  size  by  blows  aimed  at  its  circumference.  I  have 
myself  scaled  off  large  flat  flakes  from  similarly-shaped  pieces  of  flint, 
using  a  small  iron  hammer  and  directing  my  blows  against  the  edge, 
and  have  thus  become  convinced  that  the  further  working  of  objects 
like  that  in  question  could  offer  no  serious  difficulties  to  a  practised 
flint-chipper.  My  collection,  moreover,  contains  several  smaller  flint 
objects  of  similar  shape,  which  are  undoubtedly  the  rudiments  of  arrow 
and  spear-heads,  and  I  may  ad'd  that  I  obtained  a  few  from  places  where 
the  manufacture  of  such  weapons  was  carried  on. 

Yet  the  most  important  deposit  of  flint  implements  resembling  cer 
tain  types  of  the  European  drift,  is  that  discovered  by  Messrs.  Squier 
and  Davis  during  their  researches  in  Ohio.  They  have  described  this 
interesting  find  in  the  "Ancient  Monuments  of  the  Mississippi  Valley," 
and  a  resume  of  their  account  was  given  by  me  in  the  Smithsonian  re 
port  for  1868,  (p.  404.)  The  implements  in  question,  I  stated,  occurred 
in  one  of  the  so-called  sacrificial  mounds  of  Clark's  Work,  on  North 
Fork  of  Paint  Creek,  Eoss  County,  Ohio.  This  flat,  but  very  broad 
mound  contained,  instead  of  the  hearth  usually  found  in  this  class  of 
earth- structures,  an  enormous  number  of  flint  discs,  standing  on  their 
edges  and  arranged  in  two  layers,  one  above  the  other,  at  the  bottom  of 
the  mound.  The  whole  extent  of  these  layers  has  not  been  ascertained, 
but  an  excavation  six  feet  long  and  four  broad  disclosed  upward  of  six 
hundred  of  those  discs,  rudely  blocked  .out  of  a  superior  kind  of  dark 
flint.  I  had  occasion  to  examine  the  specimens  from  this  mound,  which 
were  formerly  in  the  collection  of  Dr.  Davis,  and  have  now  in  my  col 
lection  a  number  that  belonged  to  the  same  deposit.  They  are  either 
roundish,  oval,  or  heart-shaped,  and  of  various  sizes,  but  on  an  average 
six  inches  long,  four  inches  wide,  and  from  three-quarters  to  an  inch  in 
thickness.  These  flint  discs  are  believed  to  have  been  buried  as  a  re 
ligious  offering,  and  the  peculiar  structure  of  the  mound  which  inclosed 
them  rather  favors  this  opinion,  while  their  enormous  number,  on  the 
other  hand,  affords  some  probability  to  the  view  that  they  constituted  a 
depot  or  magazine.  Many  of  them  are  clumsy,  and  roughly  chipped 
around  their  edges ;  and  hence  it  has  been  suggested  that  they  are  no 
finished  implements,  but  merely  rudimentary  forms,  destined  to  receive 
more  symmetry  of  outline  by  subsequent  labor.  Many  of  the  discs  un 
der  notice  bear  a  striking  resemblance  to  the  flint  "  hatchets"  discovered 
by  Boucher  de  Perthes  and  Dr.  Eigollot  in  the  diluvial  gravels  of  the 
valley  of  the  Somme,  in  Northern  France.  The  similarity  in  form,  how 
ever,  is  the  only  analogy  that  can  be  claimed  for  the  rude  flint  articles 
of  both  continents,  considering  that  they  occurred  under  totally  differ 
ent  circumstances.  The  drift  implements  of  Europe  represent  the  most 
primitive  attempts  of  man  in  the  art  of  working  stone,  while  the  Ohio 


NORTH   AMERICAN    STONS    IMPLEMENTS.  7 

discs,  if  finished  at  all,  are  certainly  very  rough  samples  of  the  handi 
craft  of  a  race  that  constructed  earthworks  of  astonishing  regularity  and 
magnitude,  and  was  already  highly  skilled  in  the  art  of  chipping  flint 
into  various  shapes. 

On  page  214  of  the  "Ancient  Monuments  of  the  Mississippi  Valley/'  a 
group  of  the  flint  articles  from  Clark's  Work  is  represented.  The  drawing 
exhibits  pretty  correctly  the  irregular  outline  and  general  rudeness  of 
these  specimens ;  yet  Mr.  Stevens  states  (Flint  Chips,  p.  440)  that  "  the 
representations  are  not  at  all  satisfactory."  The  only  fault,  I  think,  that 
can  be  found  with  these  drawings  is  their  small  scale,  a  fault  which  is  very 
excusable,  considering  that  at  the  period  when  Messrs.  Squier  and  Davis 
published  their  work,  (1848,)  flint  articles  of  such  shape  were  no  objects 
of  particular  attention ;  for  just  then  the  results  of  the  researches  of 
Boucher  de  Perthes  were  first  laid  before  the  scientific  world,  which,  it 
is  well  known,  ignored  for  a  long  time  the  significance  of  the  rude  flint 
tools  discovered  by  the  indefatigable  and  enthusiastic  French  savant  in 
the  diluvial  gravel-beds  of  the  Somine.  It  is  true,  however,  that  some 
of  the  flint  discs  of  Clark's  Work  are  wrought  with  more  care  than  those 
represented  in  the  u  Ancient  Monuments."  This  fact  may  be  ascribed 
to  a  whim  of  the  worker  or  workers,  who  gave  some  of  the  articles  a 
greater  degree  of  regularity  by  some  additional  blows.  Mr.  Stevens  has 
only  seen  specimens  of  this  better  class,  for  such  were  those  which  Dr. 
Davis  sold  to  the  Blackmore  Museum  among  his  collection  of  Indian 
relics,  and  hence  the  author  of  "Flint  Chips"  seems  to  attribute  to  them 
n  better  general  character  than  they  really  possess.  I  learn,  however, 
that  Mr.  Blackmore,  during  a  recent  visit  to  Ohio,  has  succeeded  in  re 
covering  a  considerable  number  of  the  implements  of  Clark's  Work,  and 
thus  an  opportunity  will  be  afforded  again  to  investigate  the  true  nature 
of  these  relics  of  a  bygone  people.  BANCROFT  Lib***-. 

The  objects  in  question  consist  of  the  compact  silicious  stone  of  a  Flint 
Ridge,"  in  Ohio,  a  locality  described  on  page  214  of  the  "Ancient  Mon 
uments."*  A  careful  comparison  has  established  this  fact  beyond  any 
doubt.  The  flint  or  hornstone  which  occurs  in  that  region,  is  a  beauti 
ful  material  of  a  dark  color,  resembling  somewhat  the  real  flint  found  in 
nodules  in  the  cretaceous  formations  of  Europe.  It  is  occasionally 
marked  with  darker  or  lighter  concentric  stripes  or  bands,  the  centre  of 
which  is  formed  by  a  small  nucleus  of  blue  chalcedony ;  and  this  inter 
nal  structure  appears  particularly  distinct  in  specimens  which,  by  ex 
posure,  have  undergone  a  superficial  change  of  color.  The  stone,  in 
general,  possesses  peculiarities  by  which  it  can  be  recognized  at  once, 
even  when  met  in  a  wrought  state  far  from  its  original  site.  According 
to  Mr.  Squier,  arrow-heads  made  of  this  hornstone  have  been  found  in 
Kentucky,  Indiana,  Illinois,  and  Michigan.  That  they  occur  in  Illinois, 
I  can  attest  from  personal  experience. 

*More  particularly  in  Squier's  "Aboriginal  Monuments  of  New  York."  Buffalo,  1851. 
p.  126. 


8 


NORTH    AMERICAN    STONE    IMPLEMENTS. 


A  few  years  ago,  when  treating  of  the  flint  implements  of  Clark's 
Work,  I  was  not  prepared  to  express  a  definite  opinion  concerning  the 
manner  in  which  they  were  used,  In  the  mean  time,  however,  I  have  ob 
tained  additional  information  in  relation  to  the  class  of  implements  under 
notice,  which  enables  me,  as  I  think,  to  point  out  the  purposes  for  which 
those  of  Clark's  Work,  as  well  as  similar  ones  from  other  localities,  were 
designed.  In  the  summer  of  1869,  some  children,  who  were  amusing 
themselves  near  the  barn  on  the  farm  of  Oliver  H.  Mullen,  in  the  neigh 
borhood  of  Fayettevilie,  Saint  Clair  County,  Illinois,  dug  into  the  ground 
and  discovered  a  deposit  of  fifty -two  disc-shaped  Hint  implements,  which 
lay  closely  heaped  together.  Several  of  them  came  into  my  possession 
through  the  assistance  of  Dr.  Patrick,  of  Belleville,  in  the  same  county. 
They  consist,  like  those  of  Clark's  Work,  of  the  peculiar  stone  of  Flint 
Bidge.  This  I  noticed  at  first  sight,  and  so  did  Messrs.  Squier  and 
Davis,  to  whom  I  showed  them.  They  resemble,  in  general  shape,  the 

Fig.  3. 


objects  of  Clark's  Work,  but  are  somewhat  smaller  and  of  perfectly  sym 
metrical  outline,  having  a  well-chipped,  though  strong  edge;  in  one 
word,  they  are  highly  finished  implements,  far  superior  to  those  of 
•Clark's  Work.  In  Fig.  3  I  give  a  full-size  drawing  of  one  of  my  speci- 


NORTH    AMERICAN    STONE    IMPLEMENTS.  9 

mens  from  Fayetteville,  which  is  twenty  millimeters  thick  in  the  middle. 
The  slight  irregularities  observable  in  the  circumference  are  owing  to 
later  accidental  fractures.  In  this  specimen,  as  in  the  others  from  the 
same  find,  the  edge  is  produced  by  small,  carefully-measured  blows. 
The  edges  of  my  specimens  from  Fayetteville,  moreover,  exhibit  traces  of 
wear,  being  rubbed  off  to  a  small  degree,  and  this  circumstance,  in  con 
nection  with  their  shape,  induces  me  to  believe  that  they  were  used  a& 
scraping  or  smoothing  implements.  The  aborigines,  it  is  well  known,  hol 
lowed  their  canoes  and  wooden  mortars  with  the  assistance  of  fire,  and 
the  implements  just  described,  were,  as  I  presume,  employed  for  removing 
the  charred  portions  of  the  wood.  They  are  well  adapted  to  the  grasp 
of  the  hand,  and,  indeed,  of  the  most  convenient  form  and  size  to  serve 
in  that  operation.  Probably  they  were  likewise  used  in  cleaning  hides, 
and  for  other  purposes.  The  tools  of  Fayetteville,  however,  are  much 
more  handy  than  those  of  Clark's  Work. 

The  fact  that  implements  made  of  the  hornstone  of  Flint  Eidge  are 
found  in  Illinois — a  distance  of  about  four  hundred  miles  intervening — 
is  of  particular  interest,  as  it  shows  that  the  material  was  quarried  for 
exportation  to  remote  parts  of  the  country.  It  doubtless  formed  an  ar 
ticle  of  traffic  among  the  natives,  like  copper,  sea-shells,  and  other  nat 
ural  productions  which  they  applied  to  the  exigencies  of  common  life 
or  used  for  personal  adornment. 

Concerning  North  American  flint  implements  of  the  European  drift 
type  in  general,  Mr.  Stevens  expresses  himself  thus :  "  The  legitimate 
conclusion  at  which  we  may  at  present  arrive,  is  that  implements,  in  form 
resembling  some,  of  the  European  palaeolithic  types,  were  made  by  the 
aborigines  of  America  at  a  comparatively  late  period,  and  that  the  peo 
ple  usually  termed  the  *  mound-builders,7  were,  probably,  the  makers  of 
these  implements."  (p.  443.) 

There  is  no  sufficient  ground,  I  think,  for  attributing  these  implements 
exclusively  to  the  mound-builders,  considering  that  they  occur  on  the 
surface,  and  in  deposits  below  it,  in  regions  where  the  people  designated 
as  the  mound-builders  are  not  supposed  to  have  left  their  traces.  In 
the  States  of  New  York  and  New  Jersey,  for  instance,  such  articles 
repeatedly  have  been  met.  1  will  only  refer  to  the  leaf-shaped  imple 
ments  in  possession  of  Mr.  Cowing,  which  were  found  in  New  York,  and 
are  the  finest  specimens  of  that  kind  ever  brought  to  my  notice.  That 
the  people  who  erected  the  mounds  made  and  used  tools  resembling  the 
palaeolithic  types  of  Europe,  is  proved  by  the  occurrence  of  those  tools 
in  the  mounds ;  but  it  follows  by  no  means  that  they  are  to  be  consid 
ered  as  the  sole  makers  of  that  class  of  implements.  Supposing  that 
the  mound-builders  really  were  a  people  superior  in  their  attainments 
to  the  aborigines  found  in  possession  of  the  country  by  the  whites,  it  is 
certainly  very  difficult  to  draw  a  line  of  demarcation  between  the  manu 
factures  of  the  ancient  and  those  of  the  more  recent  indigenous  inhabi 
tants  of  North  America.  The  mound-builders — to  preserve  the  adopted 


10  NORTH    AMERICAN    STONE    IMPLEMENTS. 

term — certainly  did  not  stow  away  all  their  articles  of  use  and  ornament 
in  the  mounds,  but  necessarily  left  a  great  many  of  them  scattered  over 
the  surface,  which  became  mingled  with  those  of  the  succeeding  occu 
pants  of  the  soil.  Both  the  mound-builders  and  the  later  Indians  lived 
in  an  age  of  stone,  and  as  their  wants  were  the  same,  they  resorted  to 
the  same  means  to  satisfy  them.  Their  manufactures,  therefore,  must 
exhibit  a  considerable  degree  of  similarity,  and  hence  the  great  diffi 
culty  of  separating  them. 

Yet  Mr.  Stevens  goes  in  this  respect  farther  than  any  one  before  him. 
He  is  particularly  orthodox  in  the  matter  of  pipes.  Those  who  have 
paid  some  attention  to  the  antiquities  of  North  America,' are  aware  of 
the  fact  that  Messrs.  Squier  and  Davis  found  in  the  mounds  of  Ohio, 
especially  in  one  mound  near  Chillicothe,  a  number  of  stone  pipes  of 
peculiar  shape,  which  they  have  described  in  the  "Ancient  Monuments 
of  the  Mississippi  Valley."  In  these  pipes  the  bowl  rises  from  the  mid 
dle  of  a  flat  and  somewhat  Curved  base,  one  side  of  which  communicates 
by  means  of  a  narrow  perforation,  usually  one-sixth  of  an  inch  (about 
four  millimeters)  in  diameter,  with  the  hollow  of  the  bowl,  and  repre 
sents  the  tube,  or  rather  the  mouth-piece  of  the  pipe,  while  the  other 
unperforated  end  forms  the  handle  by  which  the  smoker  held  the  im 
plement  and  approached  it  to  his  mouth.  In  the  more  elaborate  speci 
mens  the  bowl  is  formed,  in  some  instances,  in  imitation  of  the  human 
head,  but  generally  of  the  body  of  an  animal — mammal,  bird,  or  reptile. 
These  pipes,  then,  were  smoked  either  without  any  stem,  which  seems 
probable,  or  by  means  of  a  very  diminutive  tube  of  some  kind,  the  nar 
row  bore  of  the  base  not  allowing  the  insertion  of  anything  like  a  mas 
sive  stem.  The  authors  of  the  "Ancient  Monuments"  called  these  pipes 
"  mound-pipes,"  merely  to  designate  that  particular  class  of  smoking 
utensils ;  it  was  not  their  intention  to  convey  the  idea  that  the  mound- 
builders  had  been  unacquainted  with  pipes  into  which  stems  were  in 
serted.  On  the  contrary,  they  distinctly  assign  a  beautiful  pipe  of  the 
latter  kind,  representing  the  body  of  a  bird  with  a  human  head*  to  the 
mound-builders,  though  this  specimen  was  not  found  in  a  mound,  but 
within  an  ancient  inclosure  twelve  miles  below  the  city  of  Chillicothe. 
Eeferring  to  this  pipe,  Mr.  Stevens  says :  "  Squier  and  Davis  consider 
that  this  object  is- a  relic  of  the  mound-builders:  but  it  does  not  appear 
that  any  pipe  of  similar  form,  or  indeed  any  pipe  intended  to  be  smoked 
by  means  of  an  inserted  stem,  has  been  found  in  any  of  the  Ohio  mounds." 
Upon  inquiry  I  learned  from  Dr.  Davis  that  mounds  had  been  leveled 
by  the  plough  within  the  inclosure  where  the  pipe  in  question  was  found, 
which,  he  is  convinced,  belonged  to  the  original  contents  of  one  of  those 
obliterated  mounds.  In  the  Smithsonian  report  for  18G8,  I  published 
(on  page  399)  the  drawing  of  a  pipe  then  in  possession  of  Dr.  Davis. 
Its  shape  is  that  of  a  barrel  somewhat  narrowing  at  the  bottom,  and  its 
material  an  almost  transparent  rock-crystal.  The  two  hollows,  one  for 

*  Fig.  147  on  p.  247  of  the  "Ancient  Monuments;"  Fig.  106  on  p.  509  of  "  Flint  Chips." 


NORTH    AMERICAN    STONE    IMPLEMENTS.  11 

the  reception  of  the  smoking  material,  and  the  other  for  inserting  a 
stem,  meet  under  an  obtuse  angle.  This  pipe  was  taken  from  a  mound 
near  Bainbridge,  .Ross  County,  Ohio.  Mr.  Stevens  suggests  it  had  been 
associated  with  a  secondary  interment,  (p.  524.)  Dr.  Davis,  however, 
who  is  acquainted  with  the  circum stances ^of  its  discovery,  told  me  that 
it  belonged,  with  various  other  objects,  to  the  primary  deposit  of  the 
mound.  Thus  it  would  seem  that  the  mound-builders  confined  them 
selves  by  no  means  to  the  use  of  one  particular  class  of  pipes. 

Those  who  advocate  a  strict  classification  of  North  American  relics 
according  to  earlier  or  later  periods,  should  bear  in  mind  that  mound- 
building  was  still  in  use — if  not  in  Ohio,  at  least  in  other  parts  of  the 
present  United  States — when  the  first  Europeans  arrived,  though  the 
practice  seems  to  have  been  abandoned  soon  after  the  colonization  of 
the  country  by  the  whites.  Yet,  even  in  comparatively  modern  times, 
isolated  cases  of  mound-building  have  been  recorded,*  which  fact  would 
indicate,  perhaps,  a  lingering  inclination  to  perpetuate  an  ancient, 
almost  forgotten  custom.  Many  of  the  earthworks  in  the  Southern 
States  doubtless  were  built  by  the  race  of  Indians  inhabiting  the  country 
when  the  Spaniards  under  De  Soto  made  a  vain  attempt  to  take  pos 
session  of  that  vast  territory,  then  comprised  under  the  name  of  Florida. 
For  this  we  have  Garcilasso  de  la  Vega's  often-quoted  statement  relat 
ing  to  the  earth- structures  of  the  Indians.  The  Floridians,  we  also 
know,  erected  at  the  same  period  mounds  to  mark  the  resting-places  of 
their  defunct  chieftains.  Le  Moyne  de  Morgues  has  left  in  the  "  Brevis 
Narratio "  a  representation  and  description  of  a  funeral  of  this  kind. 
When  the  mound  was  heaped  up,  the  mourners  stuck  arrows  in  the 
ground  around  its  base,  and  placed  the  drinking  vessel  of  the  deceased, 
made  of  a  large  sea-shell,  on  the  apex  of  the  pile.t  But  even  without 
such  historical  testimony,  the  continuance  of  mound-building  might  be 
deduced  from  the  fact  that  articles  of  European  origin  are  met,  though 
rarely,  among  the  primary  deposits  of  mounds.  The  following  inter 
esting  communication,  for  which  I  am  indebted  to  Colonel  Charles  C. 
Jones,  will  serve  to  illustrate  one  case  of  mound-burial  that  can  be  re 
ferred  with  certainty  to  a  period  posterior  to  the  European  occupation 
of  the  country : 

"  I  have  found  in  several  mounds,"  says  my  informant,  "  glass  beads 
and  silver  ornaments,  and,  in  one  instance,  a  part  of  a  rifle-barrel,  which 
were  evidently  buried  with  the  dead.  These,  however,  were  secondary 
interments,  the  graves  being  upon  tfre  top,  or  sides,  or  near  the  base  of 
the  mound,  and  only  a  few  feet  deep.  Never  but  in  one  case  have  I 
discovered  any  article  of  European  manufacture  interred  with  the  dead 
in  whose  honor  the  mound  was  clearly  erected.  Upon  opening  a  small 
earth-inpund  on  the  Georgia  coast,  a  few  miles  below  Savannah,  I  found 
a  clay  vessel,  several  flint  arrow-heads,  a  hand-axe  of  stone,  and  apor- 

*Squier,  Aboriginal  Monuments  of  New  York,  p.  112,  &c. 

tLe  Moyne,  in  De  Bry,  vol.  ii,  Francoforti  ad  Moenum,  1591,  pi.  XL. 


12 


NORTH    AMERICAN    STONE    IMPLEMENTS. 


tion  of  an  old-fashioned  sword  deposited  with  the  decayed  bones  of  the 
skeleton.    This  tumulus  was  conical  in  shape,  about  seven  feet  high, 
and  possessed  a  base  diameter  of  some  twenty  feet.    It  contained  only 
Fig.  4.  one  skeleton,  and  that  lay,  with  the  articles  I  have 

enumerated,  at  the  bottom  of  the  mound,  and  on  a 
level  with  the  plain.  The  oaken  hilt,  most  of  the 
guard,  and  about  seven  inches  of  the  blade  "of  the 
sword  still  remained.  The  rest  of  the  blade  had  per 
ished  from  rust.  Strange  to  say,  the  oak  had  best 
resisted  the  '  gnawing  tooth  of  time.'  This  mound 
had  never  been  opened  or  in  any  way  disturbed,  ex 
cept  by  the  winds  and  rains  of  the  changing  seasons. 
I  have  no  doubt  but  that  the  interment  was  primary r 
and  that  all  the  articles  enumerated  were  deposited 
with  the  dead  before  this  mound-tomb  was  heaped 
above  him.  This,  within  the  range  of  my  observa 
tion,  is  an  interesting  and  exceptional  case.  I  am 
persuaded  that  mound-building,  at  lea*st  upon  the 
Georgia  coast,  was  abandoned  by  the  natives  very  shortly  after  their 
primal  contact  with  tbe  whites." 

From  mound-building  I  turn  again  to  North  American  flint  imple 
ments.  Mr.  Stevens  refers  in  his  work  to  the  absence  of  flint  scrapers 
'in  the  series  from  the  United  States  exhibited  in  the  Blackmore  Museum. 
Scrapers  of  the  European  spoon-shaped  type,  however,  are  not  as  scarce 
in  the  United  States  as  Mr.  Stevens  seems  to  suppose.  The  collection 
of  the  Smithsonian  Institution  contains  a  number  of  them  ;  and  I  found 
myself  two  characteristic  specimens  in  the  Kjokkenmodding  at  Key- 
port,  New  Jersey,  described  by  me  in  the  Smithsonian  report  for  1§64. 
They  lay  upon  the  shell-covered  ground,  a  short  distance  from  each  other, 
and  were  perhaps  made  by  the  same  hand.  In  Fig.  4  I  give  a  full-size 
drawing  of  one  of  my  specimens,  both  of  which  consist  of  a  brown  kind 
of  flint,  such  as  probably  would  be  called  jasper  by  mineralogists.  The 
Fig.  5.  figured  specimen,  it  will  be  seen,  possesses  all 

the  characteristics  of  a  European  scraper.  Its 
lower  surface  is  formed  by  a  single  curved 
fracture.  The  rounded  head  is  somewhat 
turned  toward  the  right,  a  feature  likewise  ex 
hibited  in  the  other  specimen,  which  is  a  little 
larger,  but  not  quite  as  typical  as  the  original 
of  Fig.  4.  As  the  peculiar  curve  of  the  broad 
part  is  observable  in  both  specimens,  it  must 
be  considered  as  having  been  produced  inten 
tionally.  Indeed,  I  have  among  my  flint  scrap 
ers  from  the  pilework  at  Eobenhausen  one 
which  is  curved  in  the  same  direction.  In  fash 
ioning  their  implements  in  this  particular  manner.,  the  Indian  and  the 
ancient  lake-man  possibly  had  the  same  object  in  view. 


NORTH    AMERICAN    STONE    IMPLEMENTS. 


13 


There  is,  however,  another  somewhat  different  class  of  North  Ameri 
can  flint  articles,  which,  as  I  believe,  were  employed  by  the  aborigines 
for  scraping  and  smoothing  wood,  horn,  and  other  materials  .in  which 
they  worked,  or  perhaps,  also,  in  the  preparation  of  skins.  They  resem 
ble  stemmed  arrow-heads,  which,  instead  of  being  pointed,  terminate  in 
a  semi-lunar,  regularly  chipped  edge.  It  is  probable  that  they  were 
partly  made  from  arrow-heads  which  had  lost  Fig.  6. 

their  points.  Schoolcraft  gives  in  Fig.  3,  of 
Plate  18,  in  the  first  volume  of  his  large  work, 
the  drawing  of  an  object  of  this  class,  calling  it 
"the  blunt  arrow  or  Beekicuk,  ( Algonkin,)  which 
was  fired  at  a  mark."  It  is  likely  enough  that 
,  these  articles  served  in  part  the  purpose  as 
signed  to  them  by  Mr.  Schoolcraft.  Yet,  I 
have  in  my  collection  several  in  which  the 
rounded  edge  is  worn  and  polished,  while  the  remaining  part  retains  its 
original  sharpness  of  fracture,  a  circumstance  that  can  only  be  ascribed 
to  continued  use,  and  therefore  leads  me  to  believe  that  they  were  em 
ployed  in  the  manner  already  indicated.  These  implements  hardly  could 
be  used  without  handles.  Fig.  5  represents,  in  natural  size,  one  of  my 
specimens,  which  was  found  on  the  surface  near  West  Belleville,  Saint 
Clair  County,  Illinois.  The  material  is  a  yellowish-brown  flint.  The  edge, 
it  will  be  seen,  is  perfectly  Fig.  7. 

scraper-like.  Inserted  in 
to  a  stout  handle,  this  ob 
ject  would  make  an  ex 
cellent  scraper.  The  edge 
of  this  specimen  is  not 
polished, 'but  it  seems  as 
if  small  particles  of  the 
edge  had  been  scaled  off 
by  the  pressure  exerted 
in  the  use  of  the  imple 
ment.  In  the  original  of 
the  above  full-size  rep- 
presentation,  Fig.  6,  on 
the  contrary,  the  curved 
edge  is  rubbed  off  to  a 
considerable  extent  and 
perfectly  polished,  whale  the  portion  opposite  the  edge  bears  not  the 
slightest  trace  of  friction.  This  specimen,  which  consists  of  a  whitish 
flint,  was  found  in  Saint  Clair  County,  Illinois.  In  Fig.  7,  lastly,  I 
represent,  in  natural  size,  a  fine  large  specimen,  which  I. class  among 
the  implements  under  notice.  I  formerly  supposed  it  to  be  a  tool  des 
tined  for  cutting  purposes,  but  the  condition  of  the  edge,  which  is  rather 
blunt  and  hardly  fit  for  cutting,  afterward  induced  me  to  change  my 


14  NORTH   AMERICAN   STONE   IMPLEMENTS. 

opinion.  Originally,  perhaps,  one  of  those  unusually  large  spear-head sy 
•which  are  occasionally  found,  it  may  have  been  reduced  subsequently, 
after  having  lost  the  point,  to  its  present  shape.  Yet,  it  may  never 
have  possessed  a  form  different  from  that  which  it  now  exhibits.  This 
specimen  is  chipped  from  a  fine  reddish  flint  which  contains  encrinites. 
I  obtained  it  from  quarrymen  near  West  Belleville,  who  found  it  in  the 
earth  while  they  were  engaged  in  baring  the  rock  for  extending  the 
quarry.  In  conclusion,  I  will  state  that,  since  writing  the  preceding 
pages,  I  received  a  number  of  stone  implements  from  Muncy,  Lycoming 
County,  Pennsylvania,  among  which  there  are  some  large  scrapers  of 
the  European  type.  Their  material,  however,  is  not  flint,  but  either 
gray  wacke  or  a  kind  of  tough  slate. 


